


The World Not Chosen

by Xadhoom



Category: New Mutants (Comics)
Genre: F/M, Headcanon: Amara is Malevolence's mom, Headcanon: This is Universe 632
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2020-07-29 10:42:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20080855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xadhoom/pseuds/Xadhoom
Summary: Another AU. This time "What If Amara had stayed with Mephisto?". This and the Dark Phoenix oneshot were written for a Marvel writing group, hence the Name/Universe Number heading. Given how it's mostly come unraveled from lack of focus, don't get your hopes up about more like this.





	1. Chapter 1

**Magma**

**Earth 632**

A fire in the shape of a human woman sat on a throne, absently watching the hellscape beyond the balcony.

_"There is something I feel you should know," Mephisto said. Amara affixed the devil with a curious look. "Have you ever wondered how Earth's mythological free-for-all began?"_

_Of _course,_ she had. She doubted anyone hadn't, the first time Hercules and Thor were in the Avengers together._

_"Yeah," she affirmed. "I figured there was an explanation somewhere."_

_"Picture the infernal, mortal, and heavenly spaces of the universe as a sliding scale," Mephisto said. "The darkness of some underworld consumes a mortal and produces a demon. The gods are the opposite, ascended mortals. A vampire is a fallen human, a hellhound is a fallen dog, yadda yadda yadda."_

_Amara listened attentively. "That's how that works, huh?" She wanted to trust him, but he _ _ **was** _ _ the devil. Then again, Illyana's case backed him up. She resolved to trust and verify with Doctor Strange later. "Doesn't the universe having many planes of existence in it go against the meaning of the word 'universe'?"_

_Mephisto grinned. "Heh, yeah. Our world's weird like that." Amara smiled at that, knowing how true it was._

_So the Greek gods too?" She had grown up on their stories, in Nova Roma. A thought occurred to her at that._

_"Yeah," Mephisto affirmed. "About five-thousand years ago, Gaea the Elder Goddess raised a greek man named Uranus into a sky god, and that was the start of all that." A brief silence passed between them. "While we're on the subject anyway, Lovecraftian things like Shuma-Gorath are just old demons."_

_Amara blanched at that. "Lovecraftian horrors, fun." She wasn't sure what she thought of it. It seemed almost too normal that demons even could age like that._

_She was, however, sure where he was going now with this subject change, expecting an offer of pomegranates. "What about you?"_

_Mephisto's face darkened. Amara regretted touching that nerve._

_"Do you remember what I said during our first date here?" Mephisto asked. Amara replayed that in her mind, abruptly realizing what she suspected he meant._

_"You mentioned a power that made you," Amara answered. In hindsight, she probably should've focused on that._

_"Yeah," Mephisto answered uneasily. "There's a thing called the One Below All. Real Lovecraftian type demon, the oldest of us..."_

That memory ran its course. Magma smiled, amused by her past. _"To think I once doubted him."_

Abruptly she spotted a familiar creature - a spider the size of an elephant, with the heads of a cat and a man and a toad, walking up the stairs.

"Welcome, Duke Baal," she greeted, voice raised. The spider walked silently to her. "What brings you here?"

"I bring good tidings," Baal said, three mouths speaking in unison. "The rebellion of Gaap's seventeenth legion has been subdued. Peace now once more reigns in Hell!"

Magma smiled. "Good to hear." Baal silently turned away, not waiting for any further answer.


	2. Chapter 2

She stirred quietly, eventually opening her eyes. Mephisto was the first thing Magma saw.

"How was your rest, my love?" asked Mephisto, no sign of drowsiness in his voice.

"Very good," she answered. She wished that he could sleep. A smirk broke out on her face. "But never mind that, I think I know how we should spend the here and now."

"I feel not in the mood for that," Mephisto replied. "Perhaps after lunch." Magma was only happy to abide by that.

"Okay then. Not like it's the only thing we can do," she said and leaned in to kiss his neck. He draped his arms tightly around her.

Almost a full hour later, Magma left the bedroom in her fiery form. She made her way downstairs, to the dining hall. A young girl who was watching the kitchen staff was the first thing she spotted there.

"Mind if I join you?" Magma called out, amused. The girl smiled at the sound and turned to face her.

"Hello, mother," Malevolence greeted her. "And yes, I would be happy to share a meal." The kitchen staff was quick to oblige, delivering Magma a plateful of meat and Malevolence three.

Malevolence gleefully chowed down on her steaks, a smile on Magma's face as she watched. Not even Andras or Marchosias were that eager, she mused.

"Do you or father have anything planned?" Malevolence asked, after her fifth serving. Her eyes were fixed on the servants who was preparing her sixth.

"Not especially," Magma replied. "It's just going to be a normal day."

The girl's smile didn't diminish. "Then can I try damning a soul?"

Magma looked surprised. "That one was almost clever." Malevolence beamed. "The only answer you will get from me is what your father has already given you - when you're older, Malevolence."

The demon child pouted at that. "You let Mephista do it."

"Yes, because Mephista _is_ older," Magma pointed out.

"Then can I at least go to one of the Fifth Circle shows?" Malevolence asked hopefully.

So that was what she was fishing for. "Still no, but nice try." Malevolence pouted again.


	3. Chapter 3

A collection of crystalline spheres floated in a cave chamber far below the surface of the underworld. They spun leisurely, illuminating these parts. Beneath them laid a pit that seemed endless, and through its depths flew a flame. One thing drove the queen further down - curiosity.

Magma had learned quite a few things over her years spent reigning in Hell. Most relevant to the here and now was the fact that Mephisto had never completely mapped their dimension, never ruled the whole of this underworld. In previous jaunts down these uncharted regions, Magma had found places that were almost beyond words.

Deep down in the pit, a demon with over ten thousand mouths had tried to devour her, during her last journey through it. A blast of flame to scorch off an arm had been enough to deter it then. None of that crossed her mind, tho.

Magma frowned, eyes focusing on the floor of the chamber - a swirling cloud of light covered a few hundred square meters. Almost without warning, lightning surged forth from it. No concern came out on her face, and the bolt missed her by far.

The surface of the light rippled, and an image took shape - a dark-skinned teenage girl, dressed in an all-black uniform with yellow gloves and boots, and an X on the shoulders. She stood with a few others in the same outfit, out in a grassy meadow.

Magma focused on the most familiar face, a younger version of Scott Summers, and realized at once what this was.

"A parallel universe," she mused. What else did it have to show? _"Perhaps a better question is, how to make it show me others?" _It had reacted to her presence, so perhaps she should leave and return.

The image promptly shifted, into another one of her. In this one, she was an adult and in her fiery form. Magma listened, a frown replacing her fascination when she heard the other say "Lord Apocalypse".

Another image replaced the image of Universe 295. Magma watched with aloof fascination as it played out, showed her an Amara who lived in Asgard and an Ororo Munroe who was the Goddess of Thunder.

The next image showed her a reality where she had never left Nova Roma, the mundane life with a husband and daughter she led there.

Magma glared. "Heed my voice, and change." The phantasmal light complied, showed her herself wandering the Australian outback. She smiled, pleased to see it work. "Change again." It obeyed again.

After another twenty or so sights it, without warning, began to flare up, pulsate with lightning. Magma watched with more curiosity than she had its other displays. A fiery figure emerged from it, and she followed its path as it landed beside the light.

Quickly regaining her bearings, Amara frowned at the unfamiliar hellscape. She looked to the device on her wrist. "Where am I now?"

"Universe 632," the band replied, neutrally. Amara sighed mentally. At the very least, she thought, it might be a good sign - she was getting close to home again.

"Welcome, Amara, to Hell," Magma declared. Amara looked up, shock filling her face at the sight of the other her.

Amara knew at once what this was. "You stayed with him," she murmured.

Magma realized who she was. "And in your timeline, you chose not to," she answered. That raised a question to her, and answered other things. The cloud had a mind of its own and wanted them to meet. But why?

She smiled, musing that it was obvious. The light had wanted to serve the queen of the realm, give her somebody to show off her glory to, and who better than a lesser Amara Aquilla?

"Now then, look long and well at everything you could have been," Magma declared forcefully. "I am the queen of this Hell, of seven million demons. Mine is a life measured in centuries, and when the stars themselves wither away, I shall live on." Amara listened, glaring daggers. "Mine is a fire that burns hotter than the flames of Hell." Magma liked that introduction of herself.

"All I see is another me who was too naive to see Mephisto for what he was," Amara bit back.

Magma smirked. "Oh, I know quite well what he is." The Devil. Evil incarnate, literally. "But nevermind what he is. You should fear what I am!" Magma raised her arm, clenching her fist. Her forearm became engulfed in a bright blue flame.

Amara gasped at the sight. "Blue fire?" Was this some gift from Hell? Or perhaps not - a blue flame was just a very hot one.

"Yes, quite a useful little thing," Magma disclosed, seeing no reason not to boast. "It is a trick I learned long ago. Before I was even one hundred years old. I highly doubt that you have the strength to repeat it."

Amara decided against continuing the banter. _"This does give me something to work on."_


	4. Chapter 4

War had raged in the hell dimension called Limbo, for the better part of the day. In a village in the southern region of the land, the seal of Botis had appeared.

From it emerged a gigantic snake, sixty legions of demons spilling into that plane after. Before the morning was through, they had seized the town. Further south, Vassago was invading another.

Meanwhile, in a northern village, Gaap's seal had appeared before a portal. The prince and his sixty-six armies, all ten-thousand under the cover of the invisibility he had the power to bestow, overran the village without resistance.

In the west part of Limbo, Furfur had fought alone against the village, unleashing the fury of the storm. The twenty-nine legions surrounded the village, to keep them from escaping.

Far closer to the heart of the realm, the town around the royal palace had been besieged by her from the sky while almost two-hundred thousand fought its hordes on the ground. Inside, Mephisto and Belasco waged a sorcerer's duel, which a pair of surprise attacks - Flauros slashing Belasco's stomach open, Magma searing half his face off - sealed for them.

Belasco wheezed in agony, glaring at Mephisto. "Do you not realize what you are doing?" he breathed, momentarily pausing. "I am a Hell Lord, the master of a Splinter Realm, Mephistopheles. The others will destroy you for this!"

Mephisto smirked. "I realize that they will try, but it does not matter." With the combined resources of the four underworlds, none of the others could challenge them.

Wordlessly, she did away with the body, smiling as Belasco burned.

"I'll call for guards. Anything else I can do while you perform the ritual?" Magma asked, over the crackle of the flames.

"I can think of nothing," he answered succinctly.


	5. Anniversary

Somewhere or other in Hell stood the royal castle, a mansion almost completely built from dark-gray stone - two eight-story buildings stood far apart, connected by a smaller one. A spacious balcony occupied the west side of the left-side building, a staircase connecting it and the ground.

A round wall enclosed it, encompassing almost seven-hundred meter's worth of land. Four towers rose from it, and Malevolence was currently on a high floor in the south-facing one. A smile on her face, the princess's gaze was fixed on prince Gaap's city.

A lava river further encircled the castle, kept ablaze by infernal magic and the energy of its wailing souls, a good distance away from the wall. The area was empty and quiet, with one exception - a short way's north, fire swept across an unremarkable wasteland. The flames stretched onward and onward, had already consumed almost a hundred square meters.

The only thing that would make the bonfire seem out of the ordinary was that a few of the flames had shaped a human hand.

Magma couldn't define how exactly she felt about this. She had long known that this would happen, but even so, she could not. Mentally, she made a fond sigh. _"Two-hundred years."_ The flames calmed as memories crossed her mind.

Once, she had been to the grassland called the Plains of Regret and Berith's palace. There, she had enjoyed a meal and conversation with the marquis. Briefly amused herself with the prisoners of the Plains.

When she had still been mortal, one of their dates had been a second try at their dinner in Hell. All the same musicians, and the most delicious foods a hundred worlds across the Milky Way had to offer.

Once, they had discussed her goal for the next century - to reunite the dimensions of darkness and build an army mighty enough to conquer all planes. Then they would author a new working order for the universe. Mephisto had been hesitant, acutely aware that it would take a near-impossible blend of speed and discretion.

For twelve years, they had raised Malevolence together. Weathered many moments of dealing with a rambunctious shapeshifter.

After a while, she got another idea for how to spend the occasion. Around the area, the flames began to move, drawing back together into one bonfire that took on a woman's shape.

* * *

Magma kissed his neck, eliciting a sharp breath from Mephisto. Her flame bothered him a bit, a feeling drowned out almost a hundredfold by the gentle warmth of it. She made her next kiss to his lips, only pulling away after a long moment.

Grinning to him, she shifted her position, made a teasing prod at him. In a single, powerful thrust, she sheathed his sword. Mephisto groaned loudly, every inch wrapped in familiar heat.

No words passed between husband and wife as they began in earnest. Laying her hands on Mephisto's relatively broad chest, Magma pulled back from his lap, then slid down again - a rhythm that took only moments to drive him to his peak.

Her eyes closed as she savored the feeling of hot obsidian release, her loins squeezing every drop from him.

They opened again after a moment, to a smirk that conveyed his quickly laid Magma down and himself on top, then pushed into her depths. She made a few moans, knowing how he liked that. The sound of her echoed in his ears and in his mind, and his next thrust elicited a throaty gasp from her.

She felt it building, in every cell of her body, another heat almost more intense than her own could be. Felt it building, felt a craving to equal it. With every moment and movement, she lost a bit more ground before that explosion.

Almost without warning, he shot into her once more, and her eyes went wide. A burst of hellfire erupted from her, sweeping outward in all directions, engulfing them. Overcome with both fiery pain and delight, Mephisto's arms gave out, and he fell down on her - head pressing against head, chest pressing against chest.

The flames died away almost as rapidly as they had come. After a moment of resting from her peak, she wrapped her arms around him.

After a while, Magma thought to herself that she had lost track of time in here. It suited her just fine. Smiling, she decided to simply enjoy this moment.

After a while, Mephisto withdrew from her embrace. Sitting up, he admired her - she was soundly asleep, her right arm slung across her stomach while her left rested at her side. Her golden hair was disheveled. The bedsheets covered only to her, laying her ample chest bare to his eyes.

Eventually, they had continued - he had gotten atop her, rod nestled between her breasts. Hoarse breaths escaped him, eyes squeezed shut. Every motion left him feeling seared to the bone, left him craving more. She grinned at the sounds he let out.

Finally, he shuddered his release. The inky gunk bubbled between her bosoms, dissolving. After a moment to rest, Mephisto laid down on her left.

"No more," Mephisto said. "I am much too weary to go on."

Magma was just fine with that. "Yeah, so am I."

About half an hour passed swiftly. Magma had left their bedroom and begun heading to their daughter. She learned from a servant she had passed and asked in the hallway - a big N'Garai - of her whereabouts, that Malevolence was in the kitchen again.

A bright smile broke out on Malevolence's face at the sight of Magma. The child looked her way, meal forgotten.

"Hello, mother," Malevolence greeted. "How was your week? And are you and father done now?"

"Until next time," Magma said, musing that a week sounded right. "Anyway, I was thinking that the three of us could go on a trip sometime. It's been a while since I was to Gaap's place. What do you think about that?"

"Sure," said Malevolence. "That sounds like fun." Magma could only agree with that.

"I'll discuss the details with Mephisto, and tell you where we've planned," Magma told her. Malevolence pouted at that. "Sorry, kiddo."


	6. Victory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't expect more updates this decade. Yes, I did it just for the joke.

Hell was a physical space, the narration exposited, and this aspect was what allowed the demons to torment the dead. The universe's spiritual laws sent deserving souls down there and incarnated those people on arrival, for the demons to work on them.

That was the way of things both before and the Splintering, one-hundred-thousand years ago. The only real change the event caused was that the souls of mortal creatures were sent to a random afterlife realm.

Magma had other thoughts to occupy her at the moment, though. She currently sat on her balcony, looking out at the endless terrain and clear red skies.

_"It looks strikingly normal, in light of the recent events." _Memories of the wars surfaced to her.

Within one memory that crossed her mind, the dark lady was in Tartarus and locked in combat with the Hell lord Pluto. They exchanged blasts of hellfire and evaded the other's shots.

Other battles had raged at the same time across that underworld. Botis the snake had led sixty legions into battle, to seize Cocytus. Between his soldiers being individually stronger and of a greater number, they won handily.

Gaap and his legions were tasked with securing Phlegethon, while Baal had led his to claim Lethe. At the same time, Paimon had taken over Styx and Balamon had conquered Acheron. As well, Astaroth, Allocer, and Zagan had gone to secure different regions of Tartarus.

After that war, Mephisto had performed the ritual to reverse the Splintering - the process had been quick work, and space had almost turned inside out in a wasteland in Hell's northern reaches to let Tartarus's continent have a place. The River of Amnesia had proven particularly useful for him, with the next week's damned Kree.

Magma dismissed the memories, lamenting the lack of an audience to brag to. _"Dozens of Hells and all their creatures, now ours."_

She paused in the thought when she heard footsteps. Looking behind it, she saw a grinning Malevolence.

"Ah, was that today?" Magma asked.

"Indeed, mother," Male confirmed, eagerly.

* * *

Once she was through the portal, Malevolence stared. Mortals littered the green meadow, as far as she could see - Shi'ar, Kree, Entemen, Calurnians, more and more, and all laid lifeless in the grass.

Behind her, Magma stepped into the grassland. She decided to fill her in.

"Welcome to the Plains of Regret, Malevolence. This is Berith's domain, where the damned are chained in their own guilt and regrets. It is one of the places for emotional punishment."

Malevolence listened with interest, eyes studying the meadow. "How many are there here?"

"Millions, I suppose," Magma answered indifferently. "Numbers has never interested me."


	7. Change

"Hell's history is a tale of change and growth," Mephisto opened the lesson. Malevolence listened eagerly. "The One Below All ruled the original Hell eons ago, and that lasted until a number of nobles rebelled and the Splintering happened. With the Mending, we have entered a new age."

"I know, father," Malevolence said, peeved. "But what I don't understand are those Abstracts mother told me about a few days ago. I mean, don't we rule the underworld? Where does Death fit in?"

Mephisto smiled knowingly. "It is a matter of levels of being, Malevolence. The Abstract Entities are the fundamental aspects of the universe. Death is the concept of mortality and the metaphysical law that the souls of the dead leave the living world."

Malevolence didn't answer, recalling Magma's explanation about how the Abstracts were the natural order, a set of platonic ideals.

"I guess," she said, unsurely.

"Do not think too much of it. It does not matter for now," Mephisto advised, then proceeded to list historical trivia like that Baal and Eligos had become demons fifteen centuries ago. How he sometimes reshaped the realm to his liking, that it had gone from being nine circles to being a vast land in his queen's time.

A while later, she asked another question. "What happened to my brother, Blackheart?"

"We exiled him sixty years ago, after a failed coup," Mephisto disclosed. "Magma's punishment was that he had to walk away, just walk to the furthest corner of Hell. To my knowledge, he remains on that road."

"Huh," Malevolence said.

* * *

A human man was alone in a fairly unremarkable room. Its most noteworthy feature was the giant-ass circle and set of runes drawn on the floor. He stood with an open book in his right hand, and his left hand extended to the circle.

"I beseech thee, blessed Order," Saharn announced loudly. "Let me see into the darkness and observe it all." The summoning circle began glowing, and soon, a phantasmal image began to form in the air.

It showed him part of a city and a clear red sky. Six creatures were scattered around the street, simply walking about - a green man with four wings and horns, a three-horned yellow snake, a spider with eleven eyes and a horn, a two-headed hellhound, a seven-tailed fox, a semi-humanoid figure with four burly tendrils. None of them interested him.

The image changed after two minutes of him watching that scene. It showed a bird's eye view over the Bay of Agony - a vast body of lava with a handful of volcanoes in it - and its surrounding land. The only creature hanging out around here was a purple giant, with its face in its torso, whose mouth ran down its chest. It had a third arm on its left side.

Saharn recognized Azazel from the books as a child of the nameless demon, she who was once the Darkchild. That thought led him to another - where was she today? An answer occurred to him next, that she could be anywhere.

The image changed again. It now gave him a bird's-eye view of a forest clearing, where a fight was happening. A flock of demon bears was closing in on a swordsman, while about twenty laid dead or dying. Within moments, they had killed the swordsman and finished the meal.

Then a bloodied stretch of forest and a battle nearing its end, a N'Garai laughing and tearing its prey apart. Then a humanoid thing whose head was divided down the middle by a row of dagger-like fangs

_"I doubt any of these is even a century old," _Saharn thought. "Please allow me to see deeper into the dark. Show me monsters that have lived and grown for centuries aplenty."

The image complied. It first showed him a street and a giant chimerical thing called Amon, a creature with an owl's head and a wolf's upper body and a snake's lower body. Many pairs of wings adorned its body, and a dozen eyes had sprouted on its head. Saharn's blood ran cold at that sight.

The second vision was a lion-head attached to five goat legs, that towered over its city and subjects. The third vision was a giant spider, with the heads of a human and cat and toad growing from its furry body. The fourth vision was Murmur, a more conventional four-winged man.

It continued and continued, cycling through nightmare creatures. Saharn stared almost transfixed all the while, recognizing each and every one.

"DEEPER! MORE I MUST SEE MORE!" Saharn exclaimed, anxious. The image changed again, into a living room where Mephisto was reading a book with Magma.

Mephisto paused and looked directly at him. "Stranger, it seems you aren't aware of this, but a clairvoyance spell is a risky thing. Its magical energy connects to wherever you watch." The dark lord punctuated the statement by swinging his arm, the upper part vanishing abruptly.

Saharn felt a strong hand grip his neck, his surroundings dropping away. He knew that he was now worse off than dead.

Magma studied the stranger curiously. "I guess I should ask why you were spying on us?"

"I am but a humble student of the magical arts," Saharn struggled a bit to say. "I looked into the underworld to observe demon behavior, nothing more than that."

"Alright then," Magma smirked. "Care to make a deal with the queen of darkness?" Mephisto lowered and released him, folding his arms, giving Saharn a pointed look.

* * *

Magma looked out the window, her face turning stony at the sight of an approaching flock. She took flight, inspecting the hundreds-strong flock and seeing a great variety among them. The group was fronted by a bipedal horse, with an ashy white and a straight horn on its forehead.

She landed in front of them, immediately halting their advance. Countless eyes watched her intently.

"I assume that this is no social call?" Magma asked sardonically.

"Nope. We're here to overthrow ya," Azazel said, smirking. A few of them were starting to reconsider this whole thing. Five of them ran or flew away.

Magma raised her hand and sent a stream of flame at Azazel, engulfing him and the three demons behind him despite their attempts to evade it. Confident that they were dead, she ceased fire.

She quickly scanned the flock, a great many of them glaring vengefully back. "I'm going to give you all one chance to leave peacefully." A dozen of them fled while she told them so.

The battle began with them charging at her... and quickly proved one-sided. Magma's flames were more than any of them could stand while nothing they had could truly injure a demon of her nature and strength.

Magma quickly decided to end it, abandoning her humanoid form. The living inferno charged at them while a few streams erupted to pursue the airborne fiends. They all hurried to scatter or flee, but she caught handfuls at a time despite their efforts. She would have chastised them for challenging her if she could speak in this state.

It was only after Magma retook her physical form that she realized that she had not been their only target - saw a ruined chunk of wall and the ruins of their home - and flew over there.

"Malevolence, are you alright?" she called out.

"The child is well," an inhuman voice shouted back, from the other side of the rubble. Magma made her way over, seeing a N'Garai servant and Mephista flanking Malevolence, and that the area ran thick with red and green blood.

"Step-mother, as fun as this has been, I'd like to know what this even was," Mephista said while Magma descended.

"It looks like another rebellion," Magma answered, giving Malevolence a smile. "How are you holding up?"

"I am well," Malevolence answered calmly. "This was fun. Can we do it again someday?"

Magma looked back to Mephista. "Thank you for looking after your sister."

"Don't thank me," Mephista denied. "I did it purely to maintain my standing with the royal family." Malevolence glowered at that. The narration decided to speed through this next bit.

After Mephista had teleported the four to Malphas's palace, Magma explained the situation to him and requested a new palace. Malphas gladly accepted the task and gave them hospitality for the time being. Mephisto had been more than a little surprised to find his house wrecked, and found them eventually at Malphas's place.

Magma and Malphas spent part of that evening making and refining the blueprints for the next palace, which she decided should follow the styles of Nova Roma. The construction work took almost a week, even with Malphas's skill at transmutation magic and legion of assistants.

The end result was a classical villa with two floors and almost one-hundred rooms. Malevolence and Mephista had respectively made bedrooms in the left and right ends of the first floor, whíle the parents had taken residence on the second. The peristyle was open on both sides, and the garden of red grass within was carefully maintained, with a few stone paths for Magma's convenience.

Magma and Mephisto were now in their bed-chamber. She was silent while watching him change - his flesh bubbling and tearing, yellow light shining from where his skin had given way. In what had been his stomach, she saw one face of Mephisto, unholy light solidified and made into a round maw that had a handful of eyes in it.

The dark lord's transformation ended in something altogether different, something whose many appendages resembled a mixture of insect legs and tentacles. Magma smiled at the somewhat-familiar sight, finding him simply hot.

Mephisto's limbs shot at her arms, wrapping firmly around them. Lifting her up, he took a moment to look her over. No words came to him that could capture how beautiful she was, other than platitudes like 'flawless' and 'voluptuous'.

"What are you waiting for?" Magma asked slyly, eyes shining with eagerness. Mephisto wasted no time in giving her his attention.

Their session proved to be a long one, outlasting even the day they began. Another day passed in such fashion for the underworld rulers.


End file.
